■HOWTO-KNOW- 

‘THE-miOF-GOD- 


iiaiinwiliiiiiwiiwiMiii 

PF  NORTH  AMEHICA 

45  WEST  18th  STREET,  NEW  YORK  CITY 


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per  dozen,  52.75  per  hundred 


How  To  Know 
The  Will  of  God 


By 

HENRY  DRUMMOND 


INTERCHURCH  WORLD  MOVEMENT 
of  NORTH  AMERICA 

NEW  YORK  CITY 


45  WEST  18th  STREET 


Taken  by  permission  from  "The  Ideal  Life,”  by  Henry 
Drummond,  published  by  Dodd,  Mead  & Company,  New 
York,  Copyright,  1897,  by  Dodd,  Mead  & Company. 


HOW  TO  KNOW 
THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


"If  any  man  will  do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of  the 
doctrine,  whether  it  be  of  God." — John  7,  17. 

HERE  is  an  experience  which  becomes 


X more  and  more  familiar  to  every  one 
who  is  trying  to  follow  Christ — a feeling  of 
the  growing  loneliness  of  this  Christian  life. 
It  comes  from  a sense  of  the  peculiarly  per- 
sonal interest  which  Christ  takes  in  him, 
which  sometimes  seems  so  strong  as  almost 
to  make  him  feel  that  his  life  is  being  de- 
tached from  all  other  lives  around  him,  that 
it  is  being  drawn  out  of  the  crowd  of 
humanity  as  if  an  unseen  arm  linked  in  his 
were  taking  him  aside  for  a nearer  intimacy 
and  a deeper  and  more  private  fellowship. 
It  is  not,  indeed,  that  the  great  family  of 
God  are  to  be  left  in  the  shade  for  him,  or 
that  he  is  in  any  way  the  favorite  of  heaven ; 
but  the  sanctifying  and,  in  the  truest  sense, 
humbling  realization  that  God  makes  him- 
self as  real  to  each  poor  unit  as  if  he  were 
the  whole ; so  that  even  as  in  coming  to 


HOW  TO  KNOW 


Christ  at  first  he  felt  himself  the  only  lost, 
so  now  in  staying  with  Christ  he  feels  him- 
self the  only  found.  And  it  is,  perhaps, 
true,  that  without  any  loss  in  the  feeling  of 
saintly  communion  with  all  those  through- 
out the  world  who  say  “Our  Father”  with 
him  in  their  prayers,  the  more  he  feels  that 
Christ  has  all  of  him  to  Himself  the  more 
he  feejs  that  he  has  Christ  all  to  himself. 
Chrisf has  died  for  other  men,  but  in  a pecu- 
liar sense  for  him.  God  has  a love  for  all 
the  world,  but  a peculiar  love  for  him.  God 
has  an  interest  in  all  the  world,  but  a pecu- 
liar interest  in  him.  This  is  always  the  in- 
stinct of  a near  fellowship,  and  it  is  true  of 
the  universal  fellowship  of  God  with  his 
own  people. 

But  if  there  is  one  thing  more  than  an- 
other which  is  more  personal  to  the  Chris- 
tian— more  singularly  his  than  God’s  love 
or  God’s  interest — one  thing  which  is  a finer 
symbol  of  God’s  love  and  interest,  it  is  the 
knowledge  of  God’s  will  — the  private 
knowledge  of  God’s  will.  And  it  is  more 
personal,  just  inasmuch  as  it  is  more  private. 
My  private  portion  of  God’s  love  is  only  a 
private  share  in  God’s  love — only  a part— 
the  same  in  quality  and  kind  as  all  the  rest 
of  God’s  love,  as  all  the  others  get  from 
God.  But  God's  will  is  a thing  for  myself. 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


5 


There  is  a will  of  God  for  me  which  is 
willed  for  no  one  else  besides.  It  is  not  a 
share  in  the  universal  will,  in  the  same  sense 
as  I have  a share  in  the  universal  love.  It 
is  a particular  will  for  me,  different  from 
the  will  He  has  for  any  one  else — a private 
will — a will  which  no  one  else  knows  about, 
which  no  one  can  know  but  me. 

To  be  sure,  as  we  have  seen  before,  God 
had  likewise  a universal  will  for  me  and 
every  man.  But  this  is  more  than  that.  In 
the  Ten  Commandments,  in  conscience,  in 
the  beatitudes  of  Christ,  God  tells  all  the 
world  His  will.  There  is  no  secret  about 
this  part,  it  is  as  universal  as  His  love.  It  is 
the  will  on  which  the  character  of  every 
man  is  to  be  formed  and  conformed  to 
God’s. 

But  there  is  a will  for  career  as  well  as 
for  character.  There  is  a will  for  where — 
in  what  place,  viz.,  in  this  town  or  another 
town — I am  to  become  like  God,  as  well  as 
that  I am  to  become  like  God.  There  is 
a will  for  where  I am  to  be,  and  what  I 
am  to  be,  and  what  I am  to  do  tomorrow. 
There  is  a will  for  what  scheme  I am  to  take 
up,  and  what  work  I am  to  do  for  Christ, 
and  what  business  arrangements  to  make, 
and  what  money  to  give  away.  This  is 
God’s  private  will  for  me,  for  every  step  I 


6 


HOW  TO  KNOW 


take,  for  the  path  of  life  along  which  he 
points  my  way, — God’s  will  for  my  career. 

If  I have  God’s  will  in  my  character,  my 
life  may  become  great  and  good.  It  may 
be  useful  and  honorable,  and  even  a monu- 
ment of  the  sanctifying  power  of  God.  But 
it  will  only  be  a life.  However  great  and 
pure  it  be,  it  can  be  no  more  than  a life. 
And  it  ought  to  be  a mission.  There  should 
be  no  such  thing  as  a Christian  life,  each 
life  should  be  a mission. 

God  has  a life-plan  for  every  human  life. 
In  the  eternal  counsels  of  his  will,  when  he 
arranged  the  destiny  of  every  star,  and 
every  sand-grain  and  grass-blade,  and  each 
of  those  tiny  insects  which  live  but  for  an 
hour,  the  Creator  had  a thought  for  you  and 
me.  Our  life  was  to  be  the  slow  unfolding 
of  this  thought,  as  the  corn-stalk  from  the 
corn,  or  the  flower  from  the  gradually 
opening  bud.  It  was  a thought  of  what 
we  were  to  be,  of  what  we  might  become, 
of  what  He  would  have  us  do  with  our  days 
and  years,  or  influence  with  our  lives.  But 
we  all  had  the  terrible  power  to  evade  this 
thought,  and  shape  our  lives  from  another 
thought,  from  another  will,  if  we  chose. 
The  bud  could  only  become  a flower,  and 
the  star  revolve  in  the  orbit  God  had  fixed. 
But  it  was  man’s  prerogative  to  choose  his 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


7 


path,  his  duty  to  choose  it  in  God.  But  the 
divine  right  to  choose  at  all  has  always 
seemed  more  to  him  than  his  duty  to  choose 
in  God,  so,  for  the  most  part,  he  has  taken 
his  life  from  God,  and  cut  his  career  from 
himself. 

It  comes  to  pass,  therefore,  that  there 
are  two  great  classes  of  people  in  the  Chris- 
tian world  today.  (1)  Those  who  have 
God’s  vdll  in  their  character;  (2)  those 
who  have  God’s  will  likewise  in  their 
career.  The  first  are  in  the  world  to  live. 
They  have  a life.  The  second  are  in  the 
world  to  minister.  They  have  a mission. 

Now  those  who  belong  to  the  first  class, 
those  who  are  simply  living  in  the  world 
and  growing  character,  however  finely  they 
may  be  developing  their  character,  cannot 
understand  too  plainly  that  they  are  not 
fulfilling  God’s  will.  They  are  really  out- 
side a great  part  of  God’s  will  altogether. 
They  understand  the  universal  part,  they 
are  molded  by  it,  and  their  lives  as  lives 
are  in  some  sense  noble  and  true.  But  they 
miss  the  private  part,  the  secret  whisper- 
ing of  God  in  the  ear,  the  constant  message 
from  earth  to  heaven.  “Lord,  what  wilt 
thou  have  me  to  do?”  They  never  have 
the  secret  joy  of  asking  a question  like  this, 
the  wonderful  sense  in  asking  it,  of  being 


8 


HOW  TO  KNOW 


in  the  counsels  of  God,  the  overpowering 
thought  that  God  has  taken  notice  of  you, 
and  your  question — that  he  will  let  you 
do  something,  something  peculiar,  per- 
sonal, private,  which  no  one  else  has  been 
given  to  do — ^this  which  gives  life  for  God 
is  true  sublimity  and  makes  a perpetual 
sacrament  of  all  its  common  things.  Life 
to  them  is  at  the  best  a bare  and  selfish 
thing,  for  the  truest  springs  of  action  are 
never  moved  at  all,  and  the  strangest 
thing  in  human  history,  the  bounding  of  the 
career  from  step  to  step,  from  circum- 
stances to  circumstances,  from  tragedy  to 
tragedy,  is  unexplained  and  unrelated,  and 
hangs,  a perpetual  mystery,  over  life. 

The  great  reason  possibly  why  so  few 
have  thought  of  taking  God  into  their  career 
is  that  so  few  have  really  taken  God  into 
their  life.  No  one  ever  thinks  of  having 
God  in  his  career,  or  need  think,  until  his 
life  is  fully  molded  into  God’s.  And  no 
one  will  succeed  in  knowing  even  what  God 
in  his  career  can  mean  till  he  knows  what 
it  is  to  have  God  in  the  secret  chambers  of 
his  heart.  It  requires  a well  kept  life  to 
know  the  will  of  God,  and  none  but  the 
Christ-like  in  character  can  know  the  Christ- 
like  in  career. 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


9 


It  has  happened,  therefore,  that  the  very 
fact  of  God’s  guidance  in  the  individual  life 
has  been  denied.  It  is  said  to  give  life  an 
importance  quite  foreign  to  the  divine  inten- 
tion in  making  man.  One  life,  it  is  argued, 
is  of  no  more  importance  than  any  other 
life,  and  to  talk  of  special  providences  hap- 
pening every  hour  of  every  day  is  to  detract 
from  the  majesty  and  dignity  of  God,  that, 
in  fact,  it  reduces  a religious  life  to  a mere 
religious  caprice,  and  the  thought  that  God’s 
will  is  being  done  to  a hallucination  of  the 
mind. 

And  there  is  another  side  to  the  objection, 
which  though  less  pronounced  and  definite, 
subtly  dangerous  still — that  there  does  in- 
deed seem  to  be  some  warrant  in  Scripture 
for  getting  to  know  the  will  of  God ; but 
that,  in  the  first  place,  that  probably  means 
only  on  great  occasions  which  come  once  or 
twice  in  a lifetime ; and,  in  the  second,  that 
the  whole  subject  is  so  obscure  that,  all 
things  considered,  a man  had  better  walk  by 
his  own  common  sense,  and  leave  such 
mysteries  alone. 

But  the  Christian  cannot  allow  the  ques- 
tion to  be  put  off  with  poor  evasions  like 
these.  Every  day,  indeed,  and  many  times 
a day,  the  question  rises  in  a hundred  prac- 
tical forms.  “What  is  the  will  of  God  for 


10 


HOW  TO  KNOW 


me  ?”  What  is  the  will  of  God  for  me  today, 
just  now,  for  the  next  step,  for  this  arrange- 
ment and  for  that,  and  this  amusement,  and 
this  projected  work  for  Christ?  For  all 
these  he  feels  he  must  consult  the  will  of 
God,  and  that  God  has  a will  for  him  in  all 
such  things,  and  that  it  must  be  possible 
somehozv  to  know  what  that  will  is,  is  not 
only  a matter  of  hope,  but  a point  in  his 
doctrine  and  creed. 

But  in  order  to  vindicate  the  reasonable- 
ness of  such  expectations  as  these,  it  may 
simply  be  affirmed  as  a matter  of  fact  that 
there  are  a number  of  instruments  for  find- 
ing out  the  will  of  God.  One  of  them  is  a 
very  great  instrument,  so  far  surpassing 
all  the  rest  in  accuracy  that  there  may  be 
said  to  be  but  one  which  has  never  been 
known  to  fail.  The  others  are  smaller  and 
clumsier,  much  less  delicate,  indeed,  and 
often  fail.  They  often  fail  to  come  within 
sight  of  the  will  of  God  at  all,  and  are  so  far 
astray  at  other  times  as  to  mistake  some 
other  things  for  it.  Still  they  are  instru- 
ments, and  notwithstanding  their  defects, 
have  a value  by  themselves,  and  when  the 
greater  instrument  employs  their  humbler 
powers  to  second  its  attempts,  immediately 
become  as  keen  and  as  unerring  as  itself. 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


11 


The  most  important  of  these  minor  instru- 
ments is  reason,  and  although  it  is  a minor 
instrument,  it  is  great  enough  in  many  a 
case  to  reveal  the  secret  will  of  God.  God 
is  taking  your  life  and  character  through  a 
certain  process,  for  example.  He  is  run- 
ning your  career  along  a certain  chain  of 
events.  And  sometimes  the  light  which  He 
is  showing  you  stops,  and  you  have  to  pick 
your  way  for  a few  steps  by  the  dimmer 
light  of  thought.  But  it  is  God’s  will  for  you 
then  to  use  this  thought,  and  to  elevate  it 
through  regions  of  concentration,  into  faith, 
and  to  walk  by  this  light  till  the  clearer 
beam  from  His  will  comes  back  agaitf. 

Another  of  these  instruments  is  experi- 
ence. There  are  many  paths  in  life  which 
we  all  tread  more  than  once.  God’s  light 
was  by  us  when  we  walked  them  first,  and 
lit  a beacon  here  and  there  along  the  way. 
But  the  next  time  He  sent  our  lines  along 
that  path  He  knew  the  side-lights  should  be 
burning  still,  and  let  us  walk  alone. 

And  then  there  is  circumstance.  God 
closes  things  in  around  us  till  our  alterna- 
tives are  all  reduced  to  one.  That  one,  if 
we  must  act,  is  probably  the  will  of  God, 
just  then. 


12 


HOW  TO  KNOW 


And  then  there  is  the  advice  of  others — 
an  important  element  at  least — and  the  wel- 
fare of  others,  and  the  example  to  others, 
and  the  many  other  facts  and  principles 
which  make  up  the  moral  man,  which,  if 
not  strong  enough  always  to  discover  what 
God’s  will  is,  are  not  too  feeble  oftentimes 
to  determine  what  it  is  not. 

Even  the  best  of  these  instruments,  how- 
ever, has  but  little  power  in  its  own  hands. 
The  ultimate  appeal  is  always  to  the  one 
great  instrument,  which  uses  them  in  turn 
as  it  requires,  and  which  supplements  their 
discoveries,  or  even  supplants  them  if  it 
choose  by  its  own  superior  light,  and  might, 
and  right.  It  is  like  some  great  glass  that 
can  sweep  the  skies  in  the  darkest  night,  and 
trace  the  motion  of  the  furthest  stars,  while 
all  the  rest  can  but  see  a faint  uncertain 
light  piercing  for  a moment  here  and  there 
the  clouds  which  lie  between. 

And  this  great  instrument  for  finding  out 
God’s  will,  this  instrument  which  can  pene- 
tives  are  all  reduced  to  one.  That  one,  if 
vation  has  not  been  before,  and  memory  is 
helpless,  and  the  guiding  hand  of  circum- 
stance has  failed,  has  a name  which  is  sel- 
dom associated  with  any  end  so  great,  a 
name  which  every  child  may  understand, 
even  as  the  stupendous  instrument  itself 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


13 


with  all  its  mighty  powers  is  sometimes 
moved  by  infant  hands  when  others  have 
tried  in  vain. 

The  name  of  this  instrument  is  obedience. 
Obedience,  as  it  is  sometimes  expressed,  is 
the  organ  of  spiritual  knowledge.  As  the 
eye  is  the  organ  of  physical  sight ; the  mind, 
of  intellectual  sight ; so  the  organ  of  spirit- 
ual vision  is  this  strange  power,  obedience. 

This  is  one  of  the  great  discoveries  the 
Bible  has  made  to  the  world.  It  is  purely 
a Bible  thought.  Philosophy  never  conceived 
a truth  so  simple  and  ye"'  so  sublime.  And, 
although  it  was  known  in  Old  Testament 
times  and  expressed  in  Old  Testament 
books,  it  was  reserved  for  Jesus  Christ  to 
make  the  full  discover)-  to  the  world,  and 
add  to  His  teaching  another  of  the  pro- 
foundest  truths  which  have  come  from 
heaven  to  earth — ^that  the  mysteries  of  the 
Father’s  will  are  hid  in  this  word  “obey.” 

The  circumstances  in  which  Christ  made 
the  great  discovery  to  the  world  are  known 
to  every  one. 

The  Feast  of  Tabernacles  was  in  progress 
in  Jerusalem  when  Jesus  entered  the  temple 
to  teach.  A circle  of  Jews  were  gathered 
round  Him  who  seem  to  have  been  spell- 
bound with  the  extraordinary  wisdom  of 
His  words.  He  made  no  pretension  to  be  a 


14 


HOW  TO  KNOW 


scholar.  He  was  no  graduate  of  the  Rab- 
binical schools.  He  had  no  access  to  the 
sacred  literature  of  the  people.  Yet  here 
was  this  stranger  from  Nazareth  confound- 
ing the  wisest  heads  in  Jerusalem,  and  un- 
folding with  calm  and  effortless  skill  such 
truths  as  even  these  temple  walls  had  never 
heard  before.  Then  “the  Jews  marveled, 
saying,  ‘how  knoweth  this  man  letters, 
never  having  learned  ?’  ” What  organ  of 
spiritual  knowledge  can  He  have,  never 
having  learned?  Never  having  learned — 
they  did  not  know  that  Christ  had  learned. 
They  did  not  know  the  school  at  Nazareth 
whose  teacher  was  in  heaven  — whose 
schoolroom  was  a carpenter’s  shop — the 
lesson,  the  Father’s  will.  They  knew  not 
that  hidden  truths  could  come  from  God,  or 
wisdom  from  above. 

What  came  to  them  was  gathered  from 
human  books,  or  caught  from  human  lips. 
They  knew  no  organ  save  the  mind;  no  in- 
strument of  knowing  the  things  of  heaven 
but  that  by  which  they  learned  in  the 
schools.  But  Jesus  pointed  to  a spiritual 
world  which  lay  still  far  beyond,  and  tells 
them  of  the  spiritual  eye  which  reads  its 
profounder  secrets  and  reveals  the  mys- 
teries of  God.  “My  doctrine  is  not  mine,” 
He  says,  “but  His  that  sent  me” ; and  “My 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


15 


judgment  is  just,”  as  He  taught  before,  “be- 
cause I seek  not  mine  own  will,  but  the  will 
of  the  Father  which  hath  sent  me.”  And 
then,  lest  men  should  think  this  great  ex- 
perience was  never  meant  for  them,  He  ap- 
plies His  principles  to  every  human  mind 
which  seeks  to  know  God’s  will.  “If  any 
man  will  do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of  the 
doctrine,  whether  it  be  of  God.” 

The  word  doctrine  here  is  not  to  be  taken 
in  our  sense  of  the  word  doctrine.  It  is  not 
the  doctrine  of  theology.  “Any  man”  is 
to  know  if  he  will  do  His  will.  But  it  is 
God’s  teaching — God’s  mind.  If  any  man 
will  do  His  will,  he  shall  know  God’s  mind ; 
he  shall  know  God’s  teaching  and  God’s 
will. 

In  this  sense,  or  indeed  in  the  literal  sense, 
from  the  first  look  at  these  words  it  appears 
almost  as  if  a contradiction  were  involved. 
Tp  know  God’s  will,  it  is  as  much  as  to  say. 
Do  God’s  will.  But  how  are  we  to  do  God’s 
will  until  we  know  it?  To  know  it;  that  is 
the  very  dilemma  we  are  in.  And  it  seems 
no  way  out  of  it  to  say.  Do  it  and  you  shall 
know  it.  We  want  to  know  it,  in  order  to 
do  it ; and  now  we  are  told  to  do  it,  in  order 
to  know  it ! If  any  man  do,  he  shall  know. 

But  that  is  not  the  meaning  of  the  words. 
That  is  not  even  the  words  themselves.  It 


16 


HOW  TO  KNOW 


is  not,  if  any  man  do,  he  shall  know ; but  if 
any  man  will  do.  And  the  whole  sense  of 
the  passage  turns  upon  that  word  will.  It 
means,  “If  any  man  is  willing  to  do,  he  shall 
know.”  He  does  not  need  to  do  His  will  in 
order  to  know,  he  only  need  be  willing  to  do 
it.  For  “will”  is  not  at  all  the  sign  of  the 
future  tense  as  it  looks.  It  is  not  connected 
with  the  word  do  at  all,  but  a separate  verb 
altogether,  meaning  “is  willing,”  or  “wills.” 
If  any  man  wills,  or  if  any  man  is  willing, 
to  do,  he  shall  know. 

Now  notice  the  difference  this  makes  in 
the  problem.  Before,  it  looked  as  if  the 
doing  were  to  come  first  and  then  the  know- 
ing His  will ; but  now  another  element  is 
thrown  in  at  the  very  beginning.  The  being 
willing  comes  first  and  then  the  knowing; 
and  thereafter  the  doing  may  follow — ^the 
doing,  that  is  to  say, -if  the  will  has  been 
sufficiently  clear  to  proceed. 

The  whole  stress  of  the  passage  therefore 
turns  on  this  word  will.  And  Christ’s  an- 
swer to  the  question.  How  to  know  the  will 
of  God?  may  be  simply  stated  thus:  “If 
any  man  is  willing  to  do  God’s  will  he  shall 
know,”  or,  in  plainer  language  still,  “If  any 
man  is  sincerely  trying  to  do  God’s  will,  he 
shall  know.” 

The  connection  of  all  this  with  obedience 
is  just  that  being  willing  is  the  highest  form 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


17 


of  obedience.  It  is  the  spirit  and  essence  of 
obedience.  There  is  an  obedience  in  the 
world  which  is  no  obedience,  because  the 
act  of  obedience  is  there,  but  the  spirit  of 
submission  is  not. 

“A  certain  man,”  we  read  in  the  Bible, 
‘‘had  two  sons ; and  he  came  to  the  first  and 
said  ‘Son,  go  work  today  in  my  vineyard. 
He  answered  ‘I  will  not’ : but  afterward  he 
repented  and  went.  And  he  came  to  the 
second,  and  said  likewise.  And  he  answered, 
‘I  go,  sir’  and  went  not.  Which  of  the  two 
did  the  will  of  the  father?”  (Mat.  21:28- 
31).  Obedience  here  comes  out  in  its  true 
colors  as  a thing  in  the  will.  And  if  any 
man  have  an  obeying  will,  a truly  single  and 
submissive  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  teach- 
ing, or  of  the  leading,  whether  it  be  of  God. 

If  we  were  to  carry  out  this  principle  into 
a practical  case,  it  might  be  found  to  work 
in  some  such  way  as  this.  Tomorrow,  let 
us  say,  there  is  some  difficulty  before  us  in 
our  path.  It  lies  across  the  very  threshold 
of  our  life,  and  we  cannot  begin  the  work- 
ing week  without,  at  least,  some  notice  that 
it  is  there.  It  may  be  some  trifling  item  of 
business  life,  over  which  unaccountable  sus- 
picions have  begun  to  gather  of  late,  and 
force  themselves  in  spite  of  everything  into 
thought  and  conscience,  and  even  into 
prayer.  Or,  it  may  be,  some  change  of  cir- 


18 


HOW  TO  KNOW 


cumstance  is  opening  up,  and  alternatives 
appearing,  and  demanding  choice  of  one. 
Perhaps  it  is  some  practise  in  our  life, 
which  the  clearing  of  the  spiritual , atmos- 
phere and  increasing  light  from  God  is  hint- 
ing to  be  wrong,  while  reason  cannot  coin- 
cide exactly  and  condemn.  At  all  events 
there  is  something. on  the  mind — something 
to  do,  to  suffer,  to  renounce — and  these  are 
alternative  on  the  mind  to  distinguish,  to 
choose  from,  to  reject.  Suppose,  indeed,  we 
made  this  case  a personal  as  well  as  an  illus- 
trative thing,  and  in  view  of  the  solemn 
ordinance  to  which  we  are  shortly  called,  we 
ran  the  lines  of  our  self-examination  along 
it  as  we  proceed — the  question  rises,  how 
are  we  to  separate  God’s  light  on  the  point 
from  our  own,  disentangle  our  thoughts  on 
the  point  from  His,  and  be  sure  we  are  fol- 
lowing His  will,  not  the  reflected  image  of 
ours  ? 

The  first  process  towards  this  discovery 
naturally  would  be  one  of  outlook.  Natu- 
rally we  would  set  to  work  by  collecting  all 
the  possible  materials  for  decision  from 
every  point  of  the  compass,  balancing  the 
one  consequence  against  the  other,  then 
summing  up  the  points  in  favor  of  each  by 
itself,  until  we  chose  the  one  which  emerged 
at  last  with  most  of  reason  on  its  side.  But 
this  would  only  be  the  natural  man’s  way 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


19 


out  of  the  dilemma.  The  spiritual  man 
would  go  about  it  in  another  way.  This 
way,  he  would  argue,  has  no  religion  in  it  at 
all,  except  perhaps  the  acknowledgment  that 
reason  is  divine ; and  though  it  might  be 
quite  possible  and  even  probable  that  the 
light  should  come  to  him  through  the 
medium  of  reason,  yet  he  would  reach  his 
conclusion,  and  likely  enough  a different 
conclusion,  quite  from  another  side. 

And  his  conclusion  would  likewise  be  a 
better  and  sounder  conclusion,  for  the  in- 
sight of  the  non-religious  method  would  be 
impaired  and  the  real  organ  of  knowing 
God’s  will  so  out  of  order  from  disuse,  that 
even  reason  would  be  biased  in  its  choice. 
A heart  not  quite  subdued  to  God  is  an  im- 
perfect element,  in  which  His  will  can  never 
live ; and  the  intellect  which  belongs  to  such 
a heart  is  an  imperfect  instrument  and  can- 
not find  God’s  will  unerringly — for  God’s 
will  is  found  in  regions  which  obedience 
only  can  explore. 

Accordingly,  he  would  go  to  work  from 
the  opposite  side  from  the  first.  He  would 
begin  not  in  out-look,  but  in  in-Iook.  He 
would  not  give  his  mind  to  observation.  He 
would  devote  his  soul  to  self-examination, 
to  self-examination  of  the  most  solemn  and 
searching  kind.  For  this  principle  of  Christ 


20 


HOW  TO  KNOW 


is  no  concession  to  an  easy  life,  or  a care- 
less method  of  rounding  a difficult  point.  It 
is  a summons  rather  to  learn  the  highest 
and  most  sacred  thing  in  heaven,  by  bracing 
the  heart  to  the  loftiest  and  severest  sacrifice 
on  earth-— the  bending  of  an  unwilling 
human  will  till  it  breaks  in  the  will  of  God. 
It  means  that  the  heart  must  be  watched 
with  a jealous  care,  and  most  solemnly  kept 
for  God.  It  means  that  the  hidden  desires 
must  be  taken  out  one  by  one  and  regen- 
erated by  Christ — that  the  faintest  inclina- 
tion of  the  soul  when  touched  by  the  spirit 
of  God,  be  prepared  to  assume  the  strength 
of  will  and  act  at  any  cost.  It  means  that 
nothing  in  life  should  be  dreaded  so  much 
as  that  the  soul  should  ever  lose  its  sensitive- 
ness to  God ; that  God  should  ever  speak 
and  find  the  ear  just  dull  enough  to  miss 
what  He  has  said:  that  God  should  have 
some  active  will  for  some  human  will  to  do, 
and  our  heart  not  the  first  in  the  world  to 
be  ready  to  obey. 

When  we  have  attained  to  this  by  medita- 
tion, by  self-examination,  by  commemora- 
tion, and  by  the  Holy  Spirit’s  power,  we 
may  be  ready  to  make  it  our  daily  prayer, 
that  we  may  know  God’s  will ; and  when  the 
heart  is  prepared  like  this,  and  the  wayward 
will  is  drilled  in  sacrifice  and  patience  to 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


21 


surrender  all  to  God,  God’s  will  may  come 
out  in  our  career  at  every  turning  of  our 
life,  and  be  ours  not  only  in  sacramental 
aspiration  but  in  act. 

To  search  for  God’s  will  with  such  an  in- 
strument is  scarce  to  search  at  all.  God’s 
will  lies  transparently  in  view  at  every  wind- 
ing of  the  path ; and  if  perplexity  sometimes 
comes,  in  such  a way  as  has  been  supposed, 
the  mind  will  gather  the  phenomena  into  the 
field  of  vision,  as  carefully,  as  fully,  as 
laboriously,  as  if  no  light  would  come  at  all, 
and  then  stand  still  and  wait  till  the  won- 
derful discerning  faculty  of  the  soul,  that 
eye  which  beams  in  the  undivided  heart  and 
looks  right  out  to  God  from  every  willing 
mind,  fixes  its  gaze  on  one  far  distant  spot, 
one  spot  perhaps  which  is  dark  to  all  the 
world  besides,  where  all  the  lights  are 
focused  in  God’s  will. 

How  this  finite  and  this  infinite  are  brought 
to  touch,  how  this  invisible  will  of  God  is 
brought  to  the  temporal  heart  must  ever  re- 
main unknown.  The  mysterious  meeting- 
place  in  the  prepared  and  willing  heart  be- 
tween the  human  and  divine — where,  pre- 
cisely, the  will  is  finally  moved  into  line 
with  God’s — of  these  things  knoweth  no 
man  save  only  the  Spirit  of  God. 

“The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth.  We 


22 


HOW  TO  KNOW 


hear  the  sound  thereof,  but  cannot  tell 
whence  it  cometh  or  whither  it  goeth.” 
When  every  passion  is  annihilated,  and  no 
thought  moves  in  the  mind  and  all  the  facul- 
ties are  still  and  waiting  for  God,  the  spirit- 
ual eye  may  trace,  perhaps,  some  delicate 
motion  in  the  soul,  some  thought  which 
stirs  a leaf  in  the  unseen  air  and  tells 
that  God  is  there.  It  is  not  the  stillness, 
nor  the  unseen  breath,  nor  the  thought  that 
only  stirred,  but  these  three  mysteries  in 
one  which  reveal  God’s  will  to  me.  God’s 
light,  it  is  true,  does  not  supersede,  but  illu- 
minate our  thoughts.  Only  when  God 
sends  an  angel  to  trouble  the  pool  let  us 
have  faith  for  the  angel’s  hand,  and  believe 
that  some  power  of  heaven  has  stirred  the 
waters  in  our  soul. 

Let  us  but  get  our  hearts  in  position  for 
knowing  the  will  of  God — only,  let  us  be 
willing  to  know  God’s  will  in  our  hearts 
that  we  may  do  God’s  will  in  our  lives,  and 
we  shall  raise  no  questions  as  to  how  this 
will  may  come  and  feel  no  fears  in  case  the 
heavenly  light  should  go. 

But  let  it  be  remembered,  as  already  said, 
that  it  requires  a well-kept  life  to  will  to  do 
this  will.  It  requires  a well-kept  life  to  do 
the  will  of  God,  and  even  a better  kept  life 
to  will  to  do  His  will.  To  be  willing  is  a 


THE  WILL  OF  GOD 


23 


rarer  grace  than  to  be  doing  the  will  of  God. 
For  he  who  is  milling  may  sometimes  have 
nothing  to  do,  and  must  only  be  willing  to 
wait:  and  it  is  easier  far  to  be  doing  God’s 
will  than  to  be  milling  to  have  nothing  to  do 
— it  is  easier  far  to  be  working  for  Christ 
than  it  is  to  be  willing  to  cease.  No,  there 
is  nothing  rarer  in  the  world  today  than  the 
truly  willing  soul,  and  there  is  nothing  more 
worth  coveting  than  the  will  to  will  God’s 
will. 

There  is  no  grander  possession  for  any 
Christian  life  than  the  transparently  simple 
mechanism  of  a sincerely  obeying  heart. 
And  if  we  could  keep  the  machinery  clear, 
there  would  be  lives  in  thousands  doing 
God’s  will  on  earth  even  as  it  is  done  in 
heaven. 

There  would  be  God  in  many  a man’s 
career  whose  soul  is  allowed  to  drift — a 
useless  thing  to  God  and  the  world — with 
every  changing  wind  of  life,  and  many  a 
noble  Christian  character  rescued  from 
wasting  all  its  virtues  on  itself  and  saved 
for  work  for  Christ. 

And  when  the  time  of  trial  would  come, 
and  all  in  earth  and  heaven  was  dark  and 
even  God’s  love  seemed  dim,  what  is  there 
ever  left  to  cling  to  but  this  will  of  the  will- 
ing heart,  a God-given,  God-ward  bending 


24 


HOW  TO  KNOW 


will,  which  says  amidst  the  most  solemn  and 
perplexing  vicissitudes  of  life, 


“Father,  I know  that  all  my  life. 

Is  portioned  out  by  Thee, 

And  the  changes  that  are  sure  to  come 
I do  not  fear  to  see : 

But  I ask  Thee  for  a present  mind, 

Intent  on  pleasing  Thee.” 


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